Conversations
by Lalikaa
Summary: Alfons and Edward struggle to have a conversation when neither of them can speak the other's language. Shamballa!verse.
1. The First Conversation

**NOTE:** I wrote and submitted this fanfiction to Livejournal in August of last year. I may or may not continue it. It really depends on the reviews and my desire to write more of FMA in the Shambala!verse.

I got the idea for this fic a while ago, from FerioWind on DeviantArt, and just recently recovered it. In the end, there will hopefully be three parts: The First Conversation, The Endless Conversation, and The Last Conversation. All of these fics are focused solely on the relationship between Alfons Heiderich and Edward Elric.

*******Alright, this part is important to read, because it explains why I wrote the story like I did. _Italics _represents something being said in English. Regular text represents something being said in German. The first POV is Alfons, and he only knows Ed by "Edward", so he only refers to him as such. Also, when Alfons says "Alfons", although he is really referring to the Al back in Amestres, he assumes the two names are spelled the same. This is the same when Edward continually refers to Alfons as "Alphonse". He simply assumes the two names are spelled the same way. I hope this isn't too confusing!

Please read, comment, and enjoy!

The First Conversation

Alfons stole glances at the young man sitting across from him, who was rudely gaping. Alfons wondered if he had anything on his face or in his hair. He stirred his coffee anxiously.

"_You look just like Al_!" The young man kept repeating excitedly.

Alfons offered a smile. Supposedly, this was Professor Hohenheim's son, Edward Elric. He should be nice. But somehow, this seemed a little **too **nice. I mean, what was Hohenheim thinking, asking if him if Edward could stay at his apartment? They were strangers! They had just only met, for god's sake! But Edward seemed strangely fascinated by him, for some reason. And Professor Hohenheim had asked so kindly if he could stay with him, as apparently the professor had somewhere he needed to go tonight. He had even offered him money, which of course Alfons had refused. So here they were, a few hours later, sitting in a sort of awkward half-silence, interrupted only by the spoons for their coffee clinking against their cups and Edward muttering his strange little mantra.

By now, Alfons had recognized Edward's language as English. Unfortunately, Alfons' English was limited. He could try, at least. He really couldn't take this silence anymore.

"_Ah… hello. My name is Alfons. What is your name?_" He said each word slowly, just like in the book, watching Edward's expression carefully. But this was stupid. He already knew his name, and surely Edward knew his. However, he seemed a bit taken aback at Alfons' English outburst.

"_Alfons? Alfons! My little brother's name is Alfons too! If he were older, he'd look just like you!_"

He said this all very fast. He had said his name three times, and Alfons was pretty sure he heard 'name', 'brother', 'like', and 'you'. Alfons quickly gathered that Edward was trying to tell him that he had a brother that was like him. He noted that Edward hadn't bothered to introduce himself. And he had seemed surprised that his name was Alfons, too. How odd. Wasn't he paying attention at all when his father was introducing them earlier? Although, now that he thought of it, Edward had seemed a bit… distracted then. But not now. He was currently watching Alfons' every move, waiting for him to talk again.

"_Your name is Edward, yes_?" Alfons tried to make conversation with the little English he knew.

Edward gave him a strange look. "_Yeess. But you know, Alfons? My brother? He's not here in Germany. But he looks just like you. Hey! Can you understand what I'm saying?_" Edward waved his alien-looking metal arm in front of Alfons' face. His arm was just one of his strange attributes. That and his gold eyes.

And there it was; Alfons had heard 'brother', 'like', and 'you' again. Also 'yes', 'I'm', and 'what'. Unfortunately, he couldn't really make anything out of it. He sighed in slight frustration.

"What?" He said.

Ed stared blankly at him, and then slumped back in his seat, disappointed.

"_You don't know Amestrian?_" He muttered, looking up at Alfons with slightly hopeful eyes, as if he didn't quite believe him.

"Uh… no?"

**xxxxx**

Ed looked at the young man sitting across from him. He looked like Alphonse. Hell, he **was** Alphonse! But he obviously couldn't understand Amestrian at all, which sucked. Ed was really getting sick of only being able to communicate to Hohenheim and the other few old men at Hohenheim's work. Thankfully, Hohenheim had begun to teach Ed some German, at Ed's insistence. He was going to have a conversation with someone his own age, damn it!

"Um…. Hello." He said hesitantly. Damn. Not much of an impact. But it had caught Alphonse's attention. Good.

"I know… small German," Ed said, cringing at the German word for 'small'.

"Really? Very good!" Alphonse replied, speaking slowly, obviously aware of Ed's understanding of the German language.

"I am from… place not here." Woo. Congrats, Ed… way to state the obvious.

Alphonse didn't seem to mind though. He eagerly replied, "Where?"

"Amestres."

Alphonse looked at him oddly. Ed returned the look. What was wrong with him? Hadn't he ever heard of… oh. Right. Hohenheim had warned him of this. Amestres didn't exist in this world. He struggled to remember the close equivalent… oh, yeah!

"Like England." Ed offered.

Alphonse smiled. "Oh. Did you like it there?" Ed was grateful that he still spoke slowly.

Ed smiled back. "Yes. I had little brother there. He was good."

Alphonse's face lit up. "Oh! And your brother… was his name Alphonse as well?"

Ed grinned. "Yes! He look….like… face of you." He had a hard time trying to say what he wanted to say in German. It was a weird language.

Alphonse nodded, as if he understood. "Yes. He looks like me, right?" He pointed at himself.

Ed bobbed his head up and down eagerly. "Yes, yes!"

Alphonse laughed. Ed stopped bobbing. Shit. Now he was laughing at him. He wanted to make a good impression on this look-a-like, but he was just coming off as stupid and childish. He probably thought he had a brother complex too. Wonderful.

"What… you… enjoy to do?" Ed asked, attempting to change the subject, while also keeping the conversation alive.

Alphonse smiled warmly. Ed felt a pang. He really, **really** looked like Al.

"I enjoy rockets. You know… the machines your dad helps with. I also enjoy cats and apple pie." Alphonse laughed, but stopped when he noticed Ed get up.

Ed knew rockets. He had also heard 'cats' and 'apple pie'. What Winry had promised Al when he got his body back. And the strays Al always picked up. This **had** to be Al. He took a bold step forward.

"_Al? Is that you? Al?_"

But Alphonse merely looked at him with puzzled blue-gray eyes. "_I'm sorry?_" He tried.

Ed sighed. Well this was depressing. He suddenly didn't feel very much like talking.

**xxxxx**

"Where to sleep?" Edward asked.

What was with the sudden change? Was it something he'd said? He had only answered his question… oh well. Edward was probably just tired. And with all the limited knowledge of languages on both sides, there really was no polite way to end their conversation. He showed Edward to the spare room, and watched quietly as he settled himself in. Alfons had to keep his jaw from dropping as Edward took off his shirt. His arm… it really was a fine piece of machinery.

Alfons felt himself blush. What was he doing, staring at this strange foreigner as he undressed? He left Edward's room quickly to go get ready for bed himself.

Yet, oddly enough, while lying in bed later, his thoughts drifted to Edward and his little brother. He wondered when they would see each other again, as they were now obviously apart. He also pondered why Edward had insisted on referring to England as Amestres. And why, if he was from England, he didn't have an English accent. There was definitely something strange about that.

Alfons rolled over to a more comfortable position. Perhaps he would leaf through some of his English texts tomorrow morning. And maybe offer Edward a place to stay for the next few weeks, while he looked for an apartment of his own.


	2. The Misguided Conversation

So I really wasn't sure if I was going to continue this fic, but I decided that I liked writing it, so here you are. Chapter 2 of "Conversations".

This story was originally only going to have 3 chapters, but at this rate I'm thinking at least 10. It kind of depends on where I'm going to take this, because at the moment, I haven't a clue.

*********Alright, this part is important to read**, because it explains why I wrote the story like I did. _Italics _represent something being said in English. In this story, Amestresian and English are more or less the same language. Regular text represents something being said in German. The first POV is Alfons, and he only knows Ed by "Edward", so he only refers to him as such. Also, when Alfons says "Alfons", although he is really referring to the Al back in Amestres, he assumes the two names are spelled the same. This is the same when Edward continually refers to Alfons as "Alphonse". He simply assumes the two names are spelled the same way. I hope this isn't too confusing!

Please read and review! I love hearing your comments!

The Misguided Conversation 

Alfons woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. Today was a Saturday, so no work; and that meant he could spend the day trying to figure out what was going on with Edward. Professor Hohenheim had said that Edward only needed a place to stay for the one night, but Alfons was now prepared to offer up his place until Edward found an apartment of his own. In any case, Alfons had the impression that Edward was not too keen on staying with his father (or was he just simply always in a bad mood?).

He shuffled his way to the kitchen, making his morning brew. He briefly wondered if Ed liked eggs and bacon, but then came to the conclusion that of course he did because, well, who doesn't like eggs and bacon?

Edward stumbled into the kitchen just as Alfons was taking the bacon off the pan, the eggs already done and kept warm on a covered plate.

"Good morning, Edward." Alfons said, smiling.

"Food?" Edward asked hopefully.

Alfons chuckled. "Yeah, food."

**xxxxx**

Ed had never been so hungry in his life (except for, you know, all those other times). The coffee last night hadn't really cut it, especially since he really didn't even like coffee.

He hoped he hadn't made a terrible impression though, as he had kind of gobbled up all the bacon from the frying pan in roughly 4 seconds, before starting on the eggs.

"Erm…" Alphonse interrupted.

Ed looked up.

"_Would you like more?_"

Ed was eternally grateful for the Amestrian. He was too groggy to be speaking another language. So he nodded.

Alphonse attempted conversation a few times, but Ed was still not in the mood. He was still depressed from last night, and the realization that for the first time in his life, Al was not by his side.

Alphonse seemed to get the gist that Ed didn't want to talk after a few minutes. But he looked so dejected... and so much like Al…

Ed sighed.

"How are you?" He said.

**xxxxx**

Alfons looked up from the new pan of bacon he was frying. Maybe he had misread Edward's expression? He had assumed Edward didn't want to talk this early, but now here he was trying to communicate, and in German too! Alfons smiled, despite himself.

"I'm doing well. How are you?" Hmm. It was hard keeping his vocabulary so limited.

Edward seemed grateful though as he replied, "I am tired. And hungry."

Alfons walked over to dump the sizzling bacon on Edward's plate. "Will this help?"

"Yes!"

Alfons stared as he gulped the eight strips of bacon in approximately five seconds. What was with this kid?"

"_You, uh… would you like more_?"

"_No, it's OK. I'm full now._"

Alfons nodded. Thank god. He didn't have any more bacon.

The two boys stared at each other.

"Er…" Alfons started.

"Um…." Edward mumbled at the same time.

"_Yes_?" Alfons said.

"No, no… you go. Not important."

Well, if he insisted. "_How old are you_?"

"_Sixteen_."

Alfons started at him blankly. Shit. He only knew the English numbers up to ten. Well he felt stupid now.

"Er… what?" Alfons said, embarrassed.

"_Sixteen_."

"Er… _six_?"

"_No… like, uh…_" Edward held up all 10 fingers, and then closed his hands into a fist, opening his hands again to show 6 fingers.

Oh. Sixteen. Damn, he was young.

"Ah… OK. Sixteen."

"How old are you?" Edward asked.

"Nineteen."

Edward looked at him. Alfons realized that he probably only knew the German numbers up to 10 as well.

He repeated the same thing Edward did, only holding up 9 fingers instead of 6.

"Oh… you look… young." he said.

"I get that a lot."

"Yes." Edward said, but Alfons got the feeling he had no idea what he just said.

"_So… how long are you to be here_?" Hm… that didn't sound right. He really had to brush up on his English.

"_Not very long. I want to go home soon_."

"_To England_?"

"Er…_ yes_."

**xxxxx**

OK, seriously. Ed didn't even know where the hell England was. This was getting kind of ridiculous. And he got the feeling Alfons knew somehow that he wasn't from there anyway.

Alphonse was staring at him intently. "_You are not from England, are you? No accent._"

Ed froze. Dammit. So he had caught on. What to say, what to say…?

Alphonse snapped his fingers. "_You are from Canada_!"

Wait, what? What the fuck was Canada?

"Um…"

For some reason, Alfons' eyes were starting to widen. "_You… you are not from Canada then? You are American_?"

American? Wait, like America? That country that Germany was so pissed at? That was it, right? But he wasn't from America, dammit! He was from Amestres! How could he make Alphonse understand that?

Alphonse seemed to take his confused, slightly desperate look for fear, because he sort of nodded and said, "Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."

Ed smiled weakly. "Thanks?"

Hold on.

What the hell did Alphonse think? And for that matter, what had he even said?


	3. Conversation Starters

What's this? An update? Call it an early Christmas gift from me to you. 8D

I was going to update this sooner, but finals got in the way. So apologies for the wait. I promise I will try to update this story faster than once every three months, ahaha.

Oh, and in this chapter you will probably begin to realize that there happens to be absolutely no plot! YAY. But plot is coming in the next couple of chapters or so (maybe). xD

*****Alright, this part is important to read**, because it explains why I wrote the story like I did. _Italics _represent something being said in English. In this story, Amestresian and English are more or less the same language. Regular text represents something being said in German. Also, when Alfons says "Alfons", he is really referring to the Al back in Amestres; he just assumes the two names are spelled the same. This is the same when Edward continually refers to Alfons as "Alphonse". He simply assumes the two names are spelled the same way. I hope this isn't too confusing!

Please continue to read and review! I love reading your comments!

Conversation Starters

Alfons could hardly believe it. An American. Edward was an American. No wonder he had seemed so anxious.

He, Alfons Heiderich, was housing an American in his home! He felt like a political traitor. Yet somehow Alfons didn't feel frightened or anything. Edward was just so harmless-looking. And despite popular belief, Alfons knew that not all Americans were horrible people.

Edward just continued to look confused. "I am not…" He started to say, before abruptly stopping himself.

"You're not what?" Alfons asked, curious. Maybe he had been too assuming. Maybe Edward was Canadian after all.

"Not important…" he mumbled in response. "Er… you know where is Hohenheim?"

Hmm… he was definitely trying to change the subject, but there was no need to make him feel even more uncomfortable than he already was.

"No," Alfons answered. "But, hey, I was thinking… would you like to stay with me while you looked for your own apartment or something? Then you don't have to stay with your dad. You can sleep in the spare room, I don't mind."

He waited patiently while Edward contemplated his answer.

**xxxxx**

OK, so basically this German-Alphonse was asking him if he was thinking about… apartments? And sleep? Those were the only words he had really caught.

"What?" He tried.

"Oh, er…" Alphonse looked embarrassed. "Do you want to live with me in my apartment?" He said it much slower, too.

Ohhh… OK. Ed pondered this. Well, better than staying with his crusty, disintegrating old bastard of a father who kept disappearing to God-knows-where every other night. And anyway, Alphonse seemed nice enough. Plus he made good bacon.

"Yes. But not long time. I need to go back to Ames- erica," he finished awkwardly, hoping Alphonse hadn't noticed.

Alphonse smiled back. "Great! Er, good. So what do you want to do?"

"Talk to me German," Ed answered back immediately. Hell, he wanted to go back to Amestres as soon as he could. But with the gate…. It probably wouldn't be possible for a while. And as long as he was gonna be here, he might as well learn the goddamn language. It was driving him crazy, not being able to fully understand what people were saying. And, just as when he was a kid, Hohenheim was proving to be no help in teaching Ed anything. Like alchemy, Ed could only get so far with books, and the German texts Hohenheim had at his apartment were really not much help. The bastard didn't even have a fuckin' Amestrian to German dictionary or anything. What he really needed was a teacher.

And here one was, ready and willing. Ed hoped his luck would persist in this strange world.

"You mean…. You want me to teach you German?" Alphonse was saying.

What? Ed wished he could understand Alphonse better. Well, whatever he had said, it couldn't be too bad.

"Uh…Yes?"

**xxxxx**

Edward really didn't seem to understand him. This was kind of frustrating.

"Teach," Alfons said. "Is when a person tells someone else how to do or say things…" He had tried to simplify the definition, but the one he had ended up giving was so damn vague.

How on earth could he teach Edward German when he didn't even know English?

"Teach," Edward repeated. "Teach German to me."

Oh. Well. Maybe he had understood. Wonderful.

"Yes," he answered. Alright… that was a good start. Where to go from here, though…?

"Hello, my name is Alfons." Introductions never failed.

Edward shot him a questioning look. Alfons gestured to him.

"Hello, my name is Ed," he said, still looking at Alfons as though he had a few screws loose.

"Oh… you like to be called Ed?"

"Yes," the newly dubbed 'Ed' responded. "You like to be called Al?"

Wow. He was catching on quick.

"No," Alfons shook his head. "So, uh… what do you like to do?" There we go. Conversation starter.

Ed looked at him. "You like rockets, cats, and apple pie," he said strangely.

This kid had a good memory. Alfons was impressed. (He was also impressed that Ed was so familiar with these German words, as they seemed sort of random). "Yes," he agreed. "And what do you like?"

"Um… I like to… do not know word," Ed faltered.

Yes! This was his opening! He could teach Ed simple words. Let's see… things people like to do…

"Do you like to read?" He asked.

"What is read?"

Alfons looked around, spotting a book on his armchair. He picked it up, and pretended to read it.

"I am reading," he said. "Read."

Ed looked at the book. He pointed at it. "This is a read?"

"No, this is a book. Book."

Ed's brow furrowed. "Ah. Book. You read a book."

This was fantastic. Ed was catching on so fast- Alfons would barely have to teach him at all! And the faster Ed learned German, the sooner Alfons would have someone to really talk to.

"We need book to teach Ames-English and German," Ed said seriously.

What was he talking about? And why did he keep mistaking America for some place called Amestres? Huh. Well, if school had taught him anything, it was that Americans weren't very smart. Although, this didn't seem to be Ed's case. He was smart all right… he just seemed confused. Maybe Amestres was a city in America. Yes, that had to be it. But what kind of book was he talking about, teaching both English and Ger-

Oh. A dictionary. Right.

"A dictionary?" He asked.

"Uh… I think? I don't know."

Yeah, that was probably what he meant. Did he even own a German to English dictionary? He didn't think so.

"Let's go buy one," he announced.

"Buy a dictionary?" Ed asked hopefully.

"Yes," Alfons confirmed. "Then I can teach you German properly, and maybe you can teach me English."

"_OK_. Yes."

They both grabbed their coats, and made their way out of Alfons' apartment.

"So… Ed…" Alfons started. Ed turned to look at him. His eyes were really distracting. Alfons forgot what he was going to ask him.

"Nevermind," he said swiftly, knowing full well he was starting to blush. Ed gave him a strange look.

Alfons really needed to pull himself together.

**xxxxx**

Man, this other Alphonse was weird. Ed kept getting the feeling he was watching him, and it kind of creeped him out.

"Er… where is place to buy book?" he asked. At least now he knew Alphonse was looking at him _because_ Ed was talking to him.

"A bookstore?"

"Bookstore. Yes. And what is that?" he asked, pointing at a car parked on the side of the road.

"That? Oh, that's a car."

Car. Car. He could do this. He could learn to speak this shitty language. He decided now was no better time. Why wait until they bought the fucking dictionary? He proceeded to point at random objects on their walk (i.e. birds, stores, benches, lampposts), while Alphonse obediently informed him of their correct name. Truth be told, Ed was feeling more and more like he was on a walk with a parental figure, and he was the stupid little kid. But at least he was learning the language. And who cared what the passerby on the street thought, anyway?

After a good ten minutes, Alphonse abruptly stopped in front of a small building. Ed, who had been reciting the German words he had just been taught in his head, nearly walked into him.

"This is the bookstore?"

"Uh-huh," Alphonse said, walking in. Ed followed, but was disappointed to see that the bookstore was not nearly as impressive as the ones in Central. It was small and cramped. Alphonse talked briefly with the man at the front desk, before saying something to Ed.

However, Ed had been thinking longingly about the vast military library in Central, and had completely missed what Alphonse had just told him.

"_What_? _I mean_… what?"

The bookstore guy chuckled and said something else to Alphonse, who smiled in return.

Goddammit. The guy's accent was too strong, so all Ed had caught was "no". Why didn't they all just speak Amestrian like those German scientists Hohenheim worked with?

"Er…" Alphonse said. "_The book_. _It is in the place of the store to the end_."

OK, seriously, Alphonse's Amestrian sucked. Ed would have to give him some pointers. But for now, he just tromped to the back of the store and searched for the text in Amestrian, Alphonse by his side. Ed felt a slight wave of nostalgia roll over him as he remembered all the times he and his brother had looked for books about the Stone in the various libraries and shops they had been to on their travels. And the one time they had tried to get into that particularly tiny shop, but Al's armor wouldn't fit through the door, so Ed had alchemized it and the book shop owner had completely freaked…

"Found it," the other Alphonse broke Ed's little waltz on memory lane. Found it? What did that mean? Probably that he had _found it_ or something.

"_Cool_. Er, good."

Alphonse grinned. "Co_ol_ is good in English?"

Ed nodded. "Yes, a little." How did you say "sort of" in German again? Ah, well. Alphonse probably knew what he meant.

After Alphonse purchased the dictionary and Ed had received a few patronizing looks from the store owner, the two headed back out. Ed took the book out of the paper bag and began flipping through it.

He was determined, dammit. He **was** going to learn this language, no matter how weird it was.


End file.
